Glamorgan had their destiny in their own hands with the chance to win this match and reach the last eight but they inexplicably bowed out with hardly a whimper

Glamorgan failed to qualify for yet another Twenty20 knockout stages after suffering a sobering nine-wicket defeat against Gloucestershire at the Swalec Stadium.

The Welsh county were put into bat and indebted to a brilliant unbeaten 85 from 58 balls from outstanding all-rounder Jim Allenby which helped Glamorgan to 141 for five.

That total always looked below par with the side chasing having won all five T20 matches in Cardiff this season and Gloucestershire reached their target of 142 in 16.3 overs.

Australian captain Michael Klinger scored a brilliant unbeaten 86 as Gloucestershire completed a double over their local rivals and dump Glamorgan out of the tournament in front of 4,273 fans.

Glamorgan had their destiny in their own hands with the chance to win this match and reach the last eight. But they inexplicably bowed out with hardly a whimper in what had been described in one of their most important games in recent years.

In truth, Glamorgan don’t deserve quarter-final qualification after losing five of their last six games.

There have also been insufficient meaningful contributions from overseas duo Marcus North and Nathan McCullum, while Glamorgan have suffered at the hands of Australian batsmen Klinger and Cameron White in the last two matches.

The Welsh county have an outside chance of a semi-final spot in the 40-over tournament but are languishing second from bottom in the second tier of the county championship as their season threatens to become another failure.

Prior to the finale, Glamorgan had endured a mixed T20 tournament in which they had won five out of their first nine matches.

It had started so brightly with four successive victories only to be followed by a hat-trick of defeats including two heavy hammerings by Somerset and Gloucestershire.

The campaign appeared back on track with a Worcestershire win before another loss to group winners Northamptonshire last Friday, set up this tense, yet fruitless, finale.

Glamorgan started the day level on 10 points alongside Somerset and Warwickshire who faced each other at Edgbaston with the visitors triumphing and qualifying.

Matthew Mott’s men knew victory on Tuesday would see them achieve quarter-final qualification for the first time since 2008 and only the third occasion in 11 attempts.

This was either to finish as the automatic second-best finish in the Midlands/Wales/West group or one of the top two third place finishes from the three groups.

Glamorgan should have been confident of victory against a Gloucestershire side who had suffered a miserable campaign.

This included only two wins in nine games before Tuesday night and suffered points deduction for a poor pitch at Cheltenham for their game against Warwickshire.

But at the same venue they inflicted a heavy 10-wicket hammering over Glamorgan after restricting the opposition to 98 and reaching the target with ease.

Former England paceman Simon Jones returned from a shoulder injury to replace Nick James in the only change from the side beaten by Northants.

The 34-year-old was making his first appearance since May and playing in his first game in this tournament this summer.

Captain Marcus North promoted himself to open the innings with Allenby ahead of Mark Wallace who surprisingly did not bat as Glamorgan chose to change their line-up.

It proved an eventful opening over from 19-year-old Craig Miles with Allenby cutting the first ball for four before the next delivery reared off a length and struck the Glamorgan batsman on the arm.

A lively Cardiff pitch with North striking a majestic cut for four but also beaten three times by seaming deliveries from Dan Christian.

Glamorgan reached 41 after six powerplay overs thanks to some lusty Allenby blows before North was bowled by Benny Howell for 20 from 25 balls. This ended a below-par return for the overseas batsman in this tournament in what has been a lacklustre summer so far.

Glamorgan reached 61 after 10 overs before Chris Cooke holed to deep mid-wicket to hand Howell his second victim.

Nathan McCullum was promoted up the order but the experiment failed as the New Zealander was trapped lbw by slow left armer Chris Dent.

Murray Goodwin joined Allenby who struck the first boundary for seven overs before bringing up his 50 in 42 balls. Allenby then swept Tom Smith for a second six but Goodwin was bowled in the same over.

Gloucestershire continued the tactic of bowling spinners to the shorter boundary with Allenby taking advantage with a third maximum to take him past the highest Glamorgan individual T20 score for the summer.

Ben Wright holed out in the penultimate over to deep mid-wicket before Allenby continued the assault with a six from the final ball as he finished with five fours and four maximums.

Klinger and Dent moved effortlessly onto 50 after six powerplay overs before Cooke dropped Dent on 20 from Jones at deep square-leg.

The Gloucestershire openers toyed with the Glamorgan fielders by providing a more impressive exhibition of running between the wickets.

McCullum gave Glamorgan some hope with a wicket in his first over with Dent holing out to Michael Hogan at long-off for 25.

But 15 runs from a Jones over allowed Gloucestershire to reach 83 after 10 overs with Klinger bringing up his 50 in 37 balls.

Klinger and Christian guided Gloucestershire to victory with 21 balls to spare for a huge anti-climax for the home fans.

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